Robotics & Part-time Enrollment

My oldest son, a junior this year, participated in FIRST Robotics through a local high school. He loved it! At the end of the year, the mentor approached me and said he would need to enroll part-time  in order to continue to participate since the school requires students to take 3 classes to participate in a school club.

Yikes.

She didn't realize this at the beginning of the year when she recruited homeschoolers to join the club. When she did find out, she went to bat for the two homeschoolers on the team to allow them to continue. Thus, I didn't know about any of it until the year ended.

I am not particularly opposed to enrolling him part time, especially when she mentioned engineering courses that I definitely can't offer at home AND that those classes could earn college credit at a great STEM (Sci/Tech/Eng/Math) university. However, I will have no way of knowing which classes he can take until August or whether or not there will be room in these classes.

One consideration is that he needs to remain 51% homeschooled in order to participate on his homeschool varsity soccer team. I also don't really feel the need for him to take 3 classes when I already have his school schedule nearly set for his senior year.

He can't take calculus through the school unless he takes FOUR "core classes" since math is considered a core subject. At least that's the way I understand the plan.

AUGH!

I'm trying to find a way to request an exception to the 3 class rule so that he can continue to play for his fall soccer team and still participate in robotics.

Another consideration is that the engineering classes that would best fit him require prerequisites which he, of course, has not taken.  So, I'm also trying to find out if being a senior and having the experience of the robotics club might change which classes he were eligible to take.

A friend of mine that works with the virtual program is helping me think through some additional options. One is the homeschool partnership program; he could take 3 classes there on either Mondays or Thursdays.

UPDATE:
I asked the superintendent for an exception for David and I was denied. However, he did give me a couple positive ideas. One is that students at that high school take 7 classes, so 3 classes is less than half-time. So, that's good. Another is that they are potentially adding a Robotics Engineering class (pending budget approval) that would require students to participate in the FIRST Robotics program, thus circumventing the other requirement to be half-time enrolled. A possible problem is that space in the class is first offered to full time students, of course.

A friend's son participates on a Robotics team that is affiliated with a local high school (farther away; perhaps 45 minutes!) that DOESN'T require homeschoolers to enroll. So, maybe that's an option. I do plan to ask the local school if they would consider exempting the FIRST program from the requirement, instead of just exempting David. But I don't have a lot of hope for that query.

Choosing Kids' Activities

Something about standing in the shower makes me think. Maybe it's the fact that I really can't multi-task in there. LOL So, the other day, I was mulling something over in the shower.

I was wondering why parents give their kids so much choice over their activities. I don't intend to offend anyone here, so please reserve your judgment.

My kids don't get much choice over their extracurricular activities, nor over their curriculum - at least not in cases where I have a strong opinion. I know many families handle this differently, but for us? I feel that we as parents have the better perspective, including the wisdom to look back over our own choices and see where we might have chosen better. We also understand our schedules, our wallets, and our willingness (or non-willingness, as the case may be) to drive all over the county (or even the state!).

I don't have the sort of kids who want to sign up for everything. In fact, if I didn't sign them up for sports, art class, field trips, camp, etc..., then probably they'd just sit home. That's not acceptable to me. I want them to have cultural experiences, to be active, to make friends, to learn about the world.

As an example, probably only one, maybe two, of my kids would choose to play soccer if left to their own devices. But all 4 are playing this year. All have played soccer most years since they were five or six. The years they did not play, we ended up regretting the choice. Soccer works well for us, but it might not be the best choice for your family. My point is not to go sign your kids up for soccer, but find what works for your family and insist upon it.

This fall I've signed three of my kids up for gymnastics without even asking them. I want them to do something active over the winter since they won't have soccer to keep them moving and our climate is not conducive to a lot of outdoor activities from December through February (or more!). Other things we've tried over the winter haven't worked well for us, but I have high hopes for this. Anyway, my point is - I made the choice. They were not consulted.

At some point, kids must learn to manage their own time, desires, and money. I offer my older children a little more autonomy, as long as acceptable alternatives are explored. For instance, David chose not to do our monthly art class anymore. I required him to continue to explore artistic concepts on his own and he has. However, he also requested not to play soccer several years ago, so I gave him an alternative - be sure to include physical activity in your schedule two or three times a week in good weather. Just like soccer would require, you know? Did he do this? No, he did not. So he ended up back in soccer.

Some of you may be thinking - that wouldn't work for us. The kids wouldn't do it. Well, mine aren't usually happy about the idea either. Oh well. An opportunity for attitude adjustments.

They'll thank me later. Right?

Heart of the Matter - Extra Activities: Helping or Hindering?

Welcome to the Heart of the Matter Online meme: Extra Activities, Helping or Hindering?

What is your weekly extra-curricular routine? Do your kids take music lessons? Sports? Are they involved in church activities? How much time does this leave for family time? Are you over-scheduled or relaxed in your outside programs? Share with us your thoughts on this!



This is an interesting survey idea. Extracurricular activities abound for home-educated children, although I know that was not necessarily the case a few years ago. Lots of options means choosing wisely. Here is how our family has decided:

MUSIC - I notice that a lot of homeschoolers do participate in weekly music lessons, but we do not. We tried piano for Emily and guitar for David at our homeschool co-op a couple years ago. Neither one showed a great aptitude for it, and we didn't continue past that year.

We do sing as a family several times a week (as part of our family worship time), usually a capella, so they do study music at least a little. We own a piano and I bought Piano for Quitters for my husband this year. I have considered having my children go through that at their own pace. My husband has not yet attempted it. I took piano lessons briefly as a child and always wished I had learned to play more proficiently. I did play flute in school band for 8 years. The money involved in private music lessons is more than I'd like to invest.

SPORTS - All of my kids have played fall and spring soccer. The younger two are playing this year - James is in his fourth year, and Suzy in her third year. Emily played for six years and David played for eight years. This year David is helping me coach Suzy's team and also unofficially referreeing her games. We have not been involved in any other sports; AYSO soccer meets all the criteria I have for sports.

Soccer involves 1 or 2 practices every week and 1 game (sometimes 2) each week from August-October and April-May. We play on a local league so everything happens within 15 minutes of our home - with the exception of David playing on a travel team last year. THAT was definitely a lot more driving, thus more commitment.

CHURCH - Church activities also play a big part in our lives. We regularly attend Sunday School and Sunday morning worship. During the school year, our elementary age children participate in a Wednesday night program. We mainly allow them to participate in this program for the social aspect, since they don't tend to learn a lot of Bible content or memory in this program. The stories tend to be the same ones over and over from year to year, in our experience.

Our teenage son participates in youth group, and this has been a topic of much discussion - is it a worthy use of time? Will it draw him closer to the Lord or closer to our culture? For now, we have decided to participate. It meets on Sunday nights, which we like in some ways and in some ways we do not. Our 6th grade daughter is "old enough" according to the church, but we are not allowing her to participate until she is 13 (or maybe 12-1/2). She is only 11 now.

We also would like to be involved in a small group at church, but we have yet to find one that matches our priorities (children welcome) and also meets at a convenient time. It might be "one thing too many". My husband has been involved in a weekly men's group that met on a weeknight throughout the past year and it has been VERY MUCH worthwhile. The kids went along because I had to work those nights.

OTHER ACTIVITIES - We do tend to participate in a lot of field trips. Our group has Park Days and Beach Days during the warm months and we make these a priority.

Art class is held once a month for 3 hours and my older 3 will participate this year. Drawing is something I cannot teach and I think these are important skills. The teacher is a godly man and his testimony alone is worth the time investment.

Chess Club is something we did for a while, mostly for relationship purposes. However, we discontinued it when gas prices began to rise and when our schedule became busier. None of the children was highly committed to chess as an activity, so no one really complained.

Co-op is one of our most enjoyed extracurricular activities and one of the biggest commitments. I won't say much about it here, since I posted about it recently. Co-op meets every other Friday from 9:30-2:30 during September-November and January-April. This is our fifth year participating in co-op and it is very rewarding!

[EDITED TO ADD}
Keepers At Home - My girls are involved in a twice-a-month Keepers At Home group that two friends of mine started. To be honest, I am wishing I hadn't committed to it. It's 25 minutes away and it's in the evening, which is something I try to avoid - evening commitments for the kids. However, I really think it'll be a valuable group and it will allow Emily to strengthen some friendships and make new ones, as well as learn more about being a godly young woman.[END OF ADDITION]

I think that's about it for extracurricular activities. I find that if we write our activities on our calendar and plan our lessons accordingly, we accomplish a lot and still get to participate in many activities. Gas prices have made a difference in some of our choices, and if the cost continues to rise, we may opt out of a few more things.

Family time is important to us too, especially considering my recent experience with working full time. We do like to have family movie night, family walks, and play games together as a family. We try to eat meals together whenever possible.